Does anyone pronounce it 'Jeekyll'? - Jekyll (2007) Discussion

[–] UnlovedSeason 17 years ago

No. Where did you get that?

I've always said Jek- to rhyme with tech or fleck and -ll to rhyme with pull or wool.

My Collins English dictionary has it pronounced this/my/the programme's way in it's phonetic key. That's for both entries it has listed for 'Jekyll': the fictional character/psychological phenomenon and the real-life person Gertrude Jekyll (British landscape gardener 1843-1932, folks!!)

It also informs me that it's Robert Louis Stevenson with a V :-]

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[–] AnnieKay 17 years ago

Yes you're right - it's Stevenson. How embarassing for an erudite person of letters such as myself.

I found a few entries referring to the pronunciation - in the old Frederic March film it was promounced as "Jee-kull" throughout (one says "annoyingly"), but this piece

http://dinamico.unibg.it/rls/stage.htm

says Stevenson himself pronounced it "Jee-kyll".

Now I hope I haven't given you a neurotic bugbear to carry around for the rest of your life, like me!

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[–] UnlovedSeason 17 years ago

Don't worry, I thrive on stuff like this! Thanks for the heads-up.

Another similar one is the pronunciation of Insepctor Lestrade in Sherlock Holmes adaptations. I've yet to get a definitive answer on that one.

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[–] Johnny_Shannow 17 years ago

I've read the same thing too, that Stevenson promounced it Jeekyll. The pronounciation most of us use today came from the Richard Mansfield stage play apparently

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[–] UnlovedSeason 17 years ago

The problem is that the INcorrect pronunciation is now ubiquitous – it's even in the dictionary. I doubt any modern production would even consider going back to the original. Does it matter, though?

Perhaps it does. When Batman Begins came out, the only thing that spoilt this great film for me was the villain's name being pronouced RARRS rather than RAYSH – it's spelt Ra's al Ghul and was always RAYSH in the brilliant 1990s animated Batman series. The creator of the character (comics writer Dennis O'Neil) is on record as saying he wishes the film-makers had asked him...

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] fairbairn 17 years ago

Yes, I pronounce it to rhyme with Treacle, which is of course correct, and people nudge their friends and point at me and laugh because I'm such a pedant. But I'm right, damn them.

Just as I was right when I pointed out that the front of a mobile phone was a facia, to rhyme with 'lacier' (meaning more lacy), not fascia, to rhyme with 'splashier' (meaning more splashy), but the same people laughed and had a party and didn't invite me.

Bastards.

Got any grollings?..

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[–] AnnieKay 17 years ago

They called it a "FASHIER"??? They deserved a sound thrashing - I hope you administered it.

It reminds me of when I was going around on the 31st of December 1999, telling everyone to stop partying because the Millennium Eve wasn't for another twelve months. And who had the last laugh? Moi, partying alone twelve months later.

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] AnnieKay 17 years ago

Excellent point, though no-one was saying we all had to pronounce it that way. I just thought it was an interesting point. And the Frederic March film was American made, I think, and they pronounced it Jeekyll.

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Starky_A 17 years ago

Dragging up a dead post, but I just figured I'd say that I really liked the fact that in Ep 5 they commented on this in the show, on the original pronunciation and the modern accepted variant.
-
Wizards First Rule: People are stupid. They will believe any lie they fear or wish to be true.

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[–] radiodude1000 17 years ago

The name is pronounced "Jeek-ull", to rhyme with "meek", according to R.L. Stevenson. In the 20th century, specifically because of the Spencer Tracy film version, the pronunciation most widely used worldwide became "Jeh-Kull." In Ep. 5 of the 2007 version, Moffat brilliantly made this a key plot point. And they even reference Spencer Tracy.

This was a great show and I hope James Nesbitt gets some serious offers because he was mind blowing. And I'm talking about his work as Jackman.

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[–] jnnfrbryc 16 years ago

On the commentary for episode one Moffat says that people kept asking him about it and pronouncing it as Jeekyll but he said that they were calling it Jekyll because that's what everyone says nowadays. I think one of the problems with the pronounciation is the fact that Jekyll is an old Scottish (I hear particulalry from Edinburgh, as was Stevenson himself) name. However the story of the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is set in London ( a fact which Moffat admits he had rather forgotten during the writing which is why it is always reffered to as being set in Edinburgh in the series). English and Scots pronounciations differ at the best of times and I think this is one of those instances. To look at it you would assume it was Jekyll and its only really if you know your Scots pronounciation that you would know it was Jeekyl.
Personally, as a Scot, I say Jekyll just like everyone else, but it can be fun to tell people about the proper pronounciation if the subject comes up at parties :D

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[–] thelooking_glass 12 years ago

so moffat wrote the series without consulting the original story? pity. it would have been nice to see more covert references to Stevenson's tale. when I first started jekyll I assumed there'd be little bits, for ex the jackman's living near cavendish sq.

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[–] Mex5150 16 years ago

Hi

I read years ago that Stephenson's original pronunciation was "Jeekyll" and have always (pedantically, I know) pronounced it like that ever since. Has anyone else heard this pronunciation?

yup, exactly the same here.

~Mex

--

Did you ever notice that people who believe in creationism look really un-evolved?

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[–] winterose01 16 years ago

The thing I like is that "Jeekyll" is part of Stevenson's joke

"Hyde and Jeekyll" = "Hide and Seek"

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[–] lucimon 16 years ago

well they use both ways to pronounce the name in the miniseries, don't they? in the backflashs it's Jeekyll and in present time it's the now modern way, Jekyll.

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[–] bookaholic 15 years ago

there's a garden designer (well, there was, she's dead now) called Gertrude Jekyll, and she pronounced it 'Jeekyll', which I always thought was because she wanted to distance herself from the fictional Mr Jekyll and his scary alter ego - but now I realise it's probably because her surname was Scottish and that's how it was pronounced where she came from.

"The 21st century is when it all changes, and you have to be ready"
Captain Jack Harkness

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 6StringSamurai 11 years ago

The 1932 film version starring Fredric March pronounces it "Jeekyll".

If you're a religion, you can have a canon. If you're a scifi franchise, get over yourself.

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[–] LordManhammer 9 years ago

Even if Stevenson intended the name to be pronounced a certain way, he spelled it improperly for this pronunciation, so I don't think we can say "Jeekyll" is the 'correct' pronunciation

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"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"--Pres. Merkin Muffley

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